Officials were today checking the record books to see whether Andy Halder?s fight against PJ Maxwell in Sheffield last night is the shortest in boxing history.

The Coventry 28-year-old, he was on the wrong end of a quite startling decision as referee Phil Edwards stopped the contest after just 15 seconds with Halder neither knocked down, hurt or even cut.

Maxwell, 31, tore into Halder from the start and landed two good shots, to the head and body, that had his opponent retreating to the ropes and seeming to flinch away as Edwards raced in to intervene.

Suddenly, and amazingly, it then became apparent the referee had in fact stopped it.

?Andy looked at me and said: ?What??, I looked at him and said: ?What??, then the crowd looked at the referee and said: ?What???, said Capitol Promotions MC Noel Ennis who was ringside at the fight, which was shown on BBC TV in the early hours of this morning.

?It?s the shortest fight I?ve ever seen and the most diabolical decision. Andy is just utterly devastated, he wasn?t hurt and didn?t even go down so how could the referee make that decision after just 15 seconds and two punches?

?I think he just went in to break them up but saw Maxwell?s corner jumping into the ring, which they shouldn?t have been doing anyway, and just panicked.?

The other Capitol fighter on the bill, Phil Day, also lost, stopped in the fourth round by former IBO world champion Carl Thompson.

It was the first time Capitol boxers had been in action since inspirational trainer Joe Montague was shot dead in his car after Saturday?s show at Coventry?s AT7 Centre.

?It?s so upsetting for Andy because he went out there to fight for Joe and wasn?t given a fair chance,? said Capitol supremo Kevin Houston.

?To be fair to him, he?d asked me if he thought he should pull out because he couldn?t concentrate completely after what had happened. But we?d given our word we would fight so we couldn?t let anyone down.

?There was definitely something odd going on there but I suppose the harsh lesson our fighters have to learn is that when you?re away you?ve got to be on top from the start and expect no favours at all.?

Halder had been hoping he would make it on to the TV highlights after missing out last time he fought on a BBC show in Sheffield but certainly not in this way.

Because a referee must count a boxer out for ten seconds, and it usually takes a few seconds for him to start the count, it?s thought this fight could well be the short-est on record as there was no count at all and Edwards just stopped it immediately.

?It?s one of the strangest things I?ve ever seen in boxing,? added Houston. ?But, after what happened to Joe, it doesn?t really seem that important.

?We will never find anyone else as dedicated as him. Who else is going to be waking our boxers up at 5.55 every morning of the year and taking them running??